In the Home of Marmalade

I was recently gifted a bottle of marmalade....that quintessential British breakfast favourite that is found in almost every household across Britain. It is said that the earliest recipe for marmalade comes from a book written in 1677 where it was called 'marmalet of oranges'. Traditional marmalade recipes call for the juice and peel of the Spanish Seville oranges which is prized for its slightly bitter peel. The addition of the peel is what differentiates marmalade from jams.  The British have been long time lovers of this slightly bitter, sweet, chunky-textured amber spread. It is said that Winston Churchill would quaff down large quantities of marmalade to bolster him during the wars, DH Lawrence wrote novels about it and the lovable Paddington Bear eats only sandwiches with marmalade.

At home no one really enjoys the bitterness that marmalade is famous for...so I was left wondering what to do with this bottle. Came across this cake recipe that called for marmalade cake and fresh orange juice. Perfect to use up those luscious oranges flooding the market thanks to the warm British summer. So here's a really simple and easy cake to try out.



Method:

1.5 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup marmalade/pineapple jam

100 ml orange juice

- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Line and grease a 8” cake tin.

- Cream butter, oil and sugar till pale and fluffy.

- Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

- Add the marmalade and mix well. 

- Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda and add to the batter.

- Add the orange juice and mix well.

- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Mango Love

Mangoes are probably the most delicious fruit found in India during summer. The hot Indian sun turns the green mangoes hanging on fruit laden trees into these golden yellow parcels of delight! Mango trees can be found everywhere across the length and breadth of India. There are more than 25 different varieties of mangoes grown in India with each state producing a signature mango. Dasheri one of the oldest varieties found in India comes from Uttar Pradesh. Langra a fibrous mango comes from Varanasi. Banganapalli a sweet mango comes from Andhra Pradesh. Kesar with a distinctive aromas and is used for making Aamras (a sweet dish) comes from Gujrat. Alphonso a creamy-smooth mango is known as the most expensive of mangoes comes from Maharashtra. With so much choice, summers in India can only be mango heaven!

My earliest memories of eating a mango goes back to when I was maybe 3 or 4......every summer the fruits from the mango trees in the backyard would be harvested and sliced. Everyone in the family would spend the next half an hour in blissful silence gorging on the sweet yellow nectar......pure bliss! It's like a ritual in my family where during the 3-4 hot summer months, mango would feature in the menu almost everyday. However, in the past five years living away from India meant that I would miss out on tasting these delightful fruits. I would visit India every year on holidays only in July-August and by this time mango season is officially over :-(

Yes with globalization mangoes are imported and available in nooks and crannies of the world. But the flavour and taste to be had in a fruit that has ripened under the blistering Indian Sun and fed by the rivers that flow......just cannot be replaced. While living in East Africa, I tasted a variety of mango called Apple Mango that is grown all year around and is mostly available during December. A solid fruit pulp and quite sweet, it used to be my alternative mango fix!

So this year we're in London.....considered to be a mecca when it comes to all things imported! But when a cousin offered to get us Alphonso mangoes at the height of mango season straight from Mumbai......my happiness knew no bounds. I was expecting 5-6 mangoes but this wonderful person got us two dozen mangoes and now my head is spinning with ideas on how to use it. The traditional slice and eat is always first. But maybe I will make aamras (a blend of chilled mango pulp, sugar and cardamom powder) to dip puris into or a mango smoothie or a mango cheesecake......so much to do with the king of fruits. Before I rush off here's a before and after picture I want to share :-)

To Endure and Transform.....

They say it helps to talk it out. Talk to someone about your depression, share what you are thinking and get a perspective. But in this busy world who wants to really know someone else's problems. Honestly no one cares!! It's easier to maintain a facade of 'normal-ness' than really connect with someone else.

My parents don't want to know if I'm suffering from some nameless fears......they have too many of their own. So they would prefer to think that their daughter is not their responsibility anymore. She is fine...is their mantra for being normal.

My in-laws don't really care as long as I'm cooking, keeping the house functional and taking care of their son. Why would they even want to know about my emotional well being?

So at the end of the day....there is only person who can help me and that is myself. I read somewhere that it is human nature to 'endure' and that is exactly what I'm going to do. Life has decided to throw me some wicked curveballs and there is only one way to go.......SWIM or SINK. And I have decided that my option is going to be swim and swim like there is no tomorrow. I will not sink.....not today not ever.

Memories from the Past

The past five years of my life has been spent outside India and in unimaginable comfort. Maids to do everything around the house, a driver to take you everywhere and carry your bags, handymen at the press of a button to fix taps, nails, shower heads......you name it and someone would pop out to do it for you. So easy to get used to and life becomes such a pleasure to live. Or does it?

Today we're living in a first world country with no salary, no job, digging into our savings and bringing up two children. I could laugh at this delicious twist of life if it were not so painful. Maybe it's the thought of all the comforts I had just 7 months ago that make my today so unbearable. It is not as if I cannot lug heavy grocery bags to and from the supermarket. I hop on and off public transport even if its raining, freezing cold or hot. But the sceptre of the luxuries I had makes me resent what I don't have now.


All the pep talks I give myself about how this strengthens character, strips down my ego, makes me more self reliant..... does not change the despair at the way things are now. I do know that life will change.....like a wheel what goes around will come back. But how does that help me I think and re-think a dozen times before splurging for a £3 coffee.

Stumbling Along

I woke up today and realized that my last post here was almost four months ago. I stopped blogging because my experiences in this new city were so raw and painful that I decided not to share. Its always been my practice to present my happy face to the world outside.....how could I break away from that. So I went quiet, struggled with a sense of helplessness, and also clawed my way back to sanity!

When I first came to London....this big shiny city with its towering office buildings I wanted to jump back into my suspended career as a online digital specialist. I thought that the five year break I took will not matter when prospective companies saw my Google work experience. How naive was I!! Rejection mails started coming in, interviews left me shivering with fright......what a downer that was. My whole sense of self worth that was tied into my job title suffered a big blow. My thoughts were full of self loathing. I was so unemployable that companies did not even care for my work achievements to date. Was I such a non-entity? Is this the end of the road? My mind was churning with so many questions that I started down the dangerous road to depression. I lost interest in my children, the house, food and only focussed on the things I thought was wrong in my life.


This is how barren and empty my life felt! The days looked dark and quiet......there was no purpose to live for. It appeared that God had stopped listening to me. He had just left me adrift on this sea of emptiness. I came so close to sliding down the abyss......I could actually feel the darkness coming close.


And then I looked upwards......at the blue skies and clouds. The chirping birds and new green leaves soothed the pain. I was so busy wallowing in my own dark thoughts that I missed out on the delights around me. The smiles and hugs of my kids. The blessing of living in a lovely apartment. The fact that we could afford to buy groceries for the house. Yes money was not as plentiful as before. And yes I could not get a job......but God had ensured we had a comfortable life. We didn't have a car anymore.....but I could afford the bus fares to go everywhere. Small blessings! It was not a quick walk back to the light.....but I am back in the present. I'm taking each life as it comes.....one day at a time. Doing the best I can.....with faith....in myself, my family and God.

White-out!

After a lifetime spent in the tropics, snow is a magical thing! My kids were delirious with excitement even before we landed in the UK. All the Hollywood films painted this picture of a white wonderland where kids could gambol around with carefree abandon. Ever the Grinch, I was quick to tell them about the horrors of slush, below zero degree temperatures and soaking clothes. But the wonder of being a child means such grown-up worries never even figure in their imagination.....and I'm so grateful for that innocence!

View from my window

We moved into our apartment that overlooked a small woody area with a babbling brook running along the fence.....only in London will the words 'babbling brook' will fit the scene! This was the perfect suburban life with all the conveniences and still a touch of nature outside the window. I always thought of London as this busy city with soot darkening the buildings and sombre people dressed in black rushing about. (Yes what can I say.....I was an avid Dickenson reader as a child). So while black is the color of the fashionable.....London has some of the most quirkiest people, buildings and an amazing sense of history. So looking forward to the journeys to come :)




Coming back to the white stuff......the enthusiasm was catching! The kids kept checking the awesome Yahoo! weather app 5-8 times a day to find out when snow was predicted.  After a week of constant checking, we woke up one morning to a carpet of snow in the backyard. Soft snow that gently covered the portico in a fluffy white fleece. Beautiful to look and terribly cold to touch. The kids immediately put on their warm jackets and went out to welcome the first snow of the year!

I must say snow is magical (when you're warm and cosy indoors of course!!). The whole world outside appears to be diffused.....all the rough edges smoothened out, the ugliness of bare winter shrouded in this blanket of white. To me the magic lies in the silence.....it's as if someone hit the MUTE button! A forgotten line of poetry pops into my head 'Quietly falls the winter snow' and makes so much sense now.

Life in the First World

After four years in Uganda, a small country in East Africa we decided to take the path less travelled and moved to the epitome of the developed world - London! When we told people where our home for the next couple of years will be....reactions ranged from amazement to shock to delight.




So we packed up four years of memories (and a lot of African artifacts!) in Kampala, boxed it up and shipped them all to India. Given the space constraints that London forces on its citizens, we decided to live the lean lifestyle. This meant cramming the must-haves of two adults and two children into 12 suitcases!! I'm proud to say that we did manage to do that. It was also an exercise in figuring out what is most important to us :-) So bags packed, visas in hand and over priced tickets booked.....we landed in the middle of what was touted as the coldest winter in 70 years!

Yeah a very 'warm' welcome to the heart of Brittania. Thank god I'm one of those people who like cold weather......but London did try and push the envelope on that a bit too much. Zero to minus zero temperatures along with gusts of cold winds ensured that our first buys in GBP were warm jackets and boots. This is how we looked every time we stepped out. Quite a stark contrast from the warm and pleasant temperatures of Sub Saharan Africa!



So here's to a jolly good time in the heart of Brittania....filled with experiences that will shape us in indefinable ways. Happy New Year to us :-)